Why I am fine with the game being separate from the lore:

I am not the biggest comic book fan, that is not to say I do not discussing comic heroes though, and one thing that always comes up is "What if _____ fought _________? Who would win?

When Super Smash Brothers first came out, no one bitched and moaned about how the game gave no adequate reason for the characters from different series all apparently showed up to do nothing but fight each other (in fact people bitched about Subspace Emissary, and attempt to provide a reason why).

How does this connect to the topic of LoL Lore?

Simple: Both comic book series and nintendo franchises have lots of background to them, and so characters are invested in the stories. They love the stories, but it is natural to compare your favorite bad ****** to one another in a "Fantasy Fight" type of style.

Having the game tied to the lore made it difficult to create a rich world filled with rich stories, the kind of stories that drag you deep into the experience. If Riot must find a way to fit every single character into the lore, then it stifles them. There is no way a monster such as Cho'Gath should be calmly waiting about to be called to the fields of justice, he should be rampaging the country side, with heroes such as Jayce fighting to keep him out of cities. An evil nightmare creature such as nocturne would be 100% more frightening if not bound and chained except for when he is called to the fields, a war between any of the two fractions would be 1000% more interesting if it could play out in the lore OUTSIDE of the League of Legends.

If the League of Legends existed in real life it would be the equivalent of sending 5 of our troops, against 5 of X nation's troop, with the last one with troops standing being the viktor (hehehe) of the war. It makes the world of Runeterria incredibly confined in the stories it can tell.

Let Riot develop wonderful rich lore, that does justice to the interesting characters they have.

Let League of Legends (the game) be that SUPER COOL "What if X person from the lore fought X person from the world? Wouldn't that be cool, who do you think would win?!?".

That way we both get interesting lore, that does not have to dance against silly concepts, while getting to keep playing the bad a** MOBA we all love.

(Thank you for finally coming clean with your lore Riot, I've been waiting patiently. :) )